Joye Raechel Swain

Joye Raechel Swain passed away at home May 2, 2023 but her legacy lives on. She was a cancer survivor, award winning author, traveled extensively and was multilingual but her most treasured role was that of mother. She graduated from Capitol Hill High School and attended Vancouver University where she was a pioneer obtaining a degree in math. She then attended language interpreter school in Switzerland, became an artist in residence and taught English as a second language at University of Oklahoma. She married Dwight V. Swain and together they traveled, collaborated on books and lectured in the United States and Mexico where they lived several years. Joye helped establish the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame which her husband was a member. Their family grew with the addition of Ronald, Antonio and Rosio. Joye later suffered significant losses in a short period of time including Dwight, her precious mother Opal whom she loved dearly and son Ronald. Devastated, she took the pain and channeled it into love for her precious girls, Diane, Gina, Natasha and her boys Jefferson, Michael, Enos and Gerald. This was the original family circus and Joye was in heaven. The Swains were a force, a whirlwind, the life that Joye loved to be surrounded by. Sadly, she lost Gina and soon welcomed her grandkids into her home, Zoerina, Zaviaire, Demarion, Sean, Tre, and Brianna to raise with the help of Natasha and love as her own. To her there was no other option but to keep them together. She had great plans for each of her children and grandchildren. She loved being surrounded by family. They were her purpose. They traveled, learned to appreciate music and anything else she could get them into. Sports, tutors, exotic travel destinations or dance. You name it, she had the Swain children doing it and the skills to coordinate and pull it all off. She was determined they experience life in a loving home with every opportunity to help them be successful. Just running to the store was an adventure! She had a dry sense of humor peppered with sarcasm that would sometimes take a few seconds to hit you. She loved making a comment and then watching your reaction with a hint of a smile and a sparkle in her eye. She was a people watcher that had the ability to sit back and soak it all in even in the middle of utter chaos. She was everything a single mother had to be. She pursued her passions and invested in her family. She had lifetime achievements she was proud of but her legacy is her amazing children and grandchildren and the decent and kind people they turned out to be. She was extremely proud of each of them. You can't sum up a person in a paragraph. There's a lifetime between these lines that her loved ones remember and regardless of where each of them are in their lives and their relationships, she loved them deeply and knew she was loved. She loved being the ringmaster of the Swain Family circus. She will truly be missed. In addition to her in-home grandchildren, she loved James and Margaret (Diane and Sam), Hayden (Michael and Allison), Izadora and Hermione (Enos).

A memorial graveside for Joye will be held Monday, May 8, 2023 at 10:00 AM at Norman I.O.O.F. Cemetery, 1913 N. Porter Ave., Norman, Oklahoma.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.primrosefuneralservice.com for the Swain family.